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Herd Dominance

Yesterday, in a day-camp my barn hosts every winter break, the head instructor decided to teach the campers about herd dominance so we grabbed Country (a big bay horse), Scooby (an tiny pony), Cappi (a black pony), and Phantom (an adorable Chincoteague Pony). The head instructor had the little kids vote on which horse they thought would be the dominant one. Of course they all chose Country, as he is the biggest. The ponies were released and they immediately turned and galloped to the center of the ring where they began sniffing and nipping at each other. All the kids were lined up along the fence, cheering for Country and watching how he interacted with the ponies. They watched as the head instructor explained what each pony was doing.

The kids saw how the ponies swung their hinds at each other, reared, and kicked, until the dominant horse was decided.

Phantom, the little paint Chincoteague pony came out on top. He galloped at the front of the group, led the other ponies around, and made sure the other ponies knew who was boss. The kids watched in awe as the little pony became dominant.

Like cats. Sometimes it's not the biggest, physically strongest one that comes out on top. In one apartment I lived in, I was sharing with two other girls. I had one cat and another girl had two. I had the female and she had the two males. In all other homes I lived in before, my teeny tiny girl, who only weighs 6 pounds, was the boss. Here, though, it was - surprise, surprise - the 14 year-old fatboy street alley Tomcat. The second male cat was a 3 foot-long, healthy, strong, fast and young cat, and he didn't even become my girl's boss. I guess wisdom won in this case!
And my girl and the Tomcat became girlfriend/boyfriend. They could spend hours cleaning each other's fur. Hilarious!